Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:06:47.439Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Design Supporting a ‘Customer-Perceived Intimacy’-Strategy in Healthcare Services

Part of: Design for Healthcare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Carmen Martens ,
Jasmien Herssens  and
Cécile Delcourt
Carmen Martens*
Affiliation:
University of Hasselt; University of Liege
Jasmien Herssens
Affiliation:
University of Hasselt;
Cécile Delcourt
Affiliation:
University of Liege
*
Contact: Martens, Carmen, University of Hasselt/University of Liege, Arts and Architecture/Management Sciences, Belgium, carmen.martens@uhasselt.be

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Given that we live in a time within a growing competitive healthcare market, the customer experience and healing opportunities are on top of the priority list. However, little attention has been dedicated on how to merge the disciplines of architecture, healthcare and management to create healthcare environments to enhance the customer experience and the healing process. The goal of this paper is to explore how design can foster customer-perceived intimacy within a healthcare context to achieve enhanced customer outcomes, such as customer well-being. Understanding the importance of customer- perceived intimacy is paramount, as customers are constantly exposed to intimate situations. The study suggest that there is potential for such situations to be wrought with problems involving complexities associated with human cognition, emotions, physiological responses, and behaviors. A literature review is undertaken to highlight the antecedents and the short-term and long-term outcomes of customer- perceived intimacy. As a result, the paper provides a conceptual framework that raises many questions that need to be answered. In doing so, a solid foundation for future inquiry has been laid.

Keywords

Customer intimacyDesign processExperience designHealthcare servicesService design
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 927 - 936
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

References

Akçura, M.T. and Srinivasan, K. (2005), “Research note: customer intimacy and cross-selling strategy”, Management Science, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1007–1012.Google Scholar
Anderson, L., Ostrom, A.L., Corus, C., Fisk, R.P., Gallan, A.S., Giraldo, M. and Rosenbaum, M.S. (2013), “Transformative service research: An agenda for the future”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 66 No. 8, pp. 1203–1210.Google Scholar
Arneill, A.B. and Devlin, A.S. (2002), “Perceived quality of care: The influence of the waiting room environment”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 345–360.Google Scholar
Barlas, D., Sama, A.E., Ward, M.F. and Lesser, M.L. (2001), “Comparison of the auditory and visual privacy of emergency department treatment areas with curtains versus those with solid walls”, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 135–139.Google Scholar
Beetles, A.C. and Harris, L.C. (2010), “The role of intimacy in service relationships: an exploration”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 347–358.Google Scholar
Bendapudi, N. and Leone, R.P. (2003), “Psychological implications of customer participation in co-production”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 67 No. 1, pp. 14–28.Google Scholar
Berry, L.L. and Bendapudi, N. (2007), “Health care: a fertile field for service research”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 111–122.Google Scholar
Bitner, M.J. (1990), “Evaluating service encounters: the effects of physical surroundings and employee responses”, the Journal of Marketing, pp. 69–82.Google Scholar
Bitner, M.J. (1992), “Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees”, The Journal of Marketing, pp. 57–71.Google Scholar
Bowers, M. and Swan, J.E. (1992), “Generic versus service specific dimensions of service quality: does SERVQUAL cover hospital health care?”, Unpublished manuscript, Birmingham, AL.Google Scholar
Bügel, M.S., Verhoef, P.C. and Buunk, A.P. (2011), “Customer intimacy and commitment to relationships with firms in five different sectors: Preliminary evidence”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 247–258.Google Scholar
Christopoulou-Aletra, H., Togia, A. and Varlami, C. (2010), “The “smart” Asclepieion: A total healing environment”, Archives of Hellenic Medicine, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 259–263.Google Scholar
Darley, J.M. and Gilbert, D.T. (1985), “Social psychological aspects of environmental psychology”, Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 949–992.Google Scholar
Donovan, R.J., Rossiter, J.R., Marcoolyn, G. and Nesdale, A. (1994), “Store atmosphere and purchasing behavior”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 70 No. 3, pp. 283–294.Google Scholar
Fottler, M.D., Ford, R.C., Roberts, V. and Ford, E.W. (2000), “Creating a healing environment: The importance of the service setting in the new consumer-oriented healthcare system”, Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 91–106.Google Scholar
Fournier, S. (1998), “Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 343–373.Google Scholar
Golledge, R.G. (1987), “Environmental Cognition”, Altman. Handbook of Environmental Psychology, pp. 131–174.Google Scholar
Grace, D. (2007), “How embarrassing! An exploratory study of critical incidents including affective reactions”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 271–284.Google Scholar
Habryn, F., Blau, B., Satzger, G. and Kölmel, B. (2010), Towards a model for measuring customer intimacy in B2B services. Paper presented at the International Conference on Exploring Services Science.Google Scholar
Harrell, G.D., Hutt, M.D. and Anderson, J.C. (1980), “Path analysis of buyer behavior under conditions of crowding”, Journal of Marketing Research, pp. 45–51.Google Scholar
Herssens, J. (2017), “(Re)presentations of haptic embodiment: Video-Ethnography through the lens of blindness”, Societies, Vol. 6, (under review).Google Scholar
Herssens, J. (2019), “Designing (for) More”, In Herssens, J., Kercher, P., Strickfaden, M. (Eds.), Designing for More: Inclusive Cities. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Huber, F., Herrmann, A. and Morgan, R.E. (2001), “Gaining competitive advantage through customer value oriented management”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 41–53.Google Scholar
Hutton, J.D. and Richardson, L.D. (1995), “Healthscapes: the role of the facility and physical environment on consumer attitudes, satisfaction, quality assessments, and behaviors”, Health Care Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 48–61.Google Scholar
Jencks, C. (1980), “The Architectural Sign”, Broadbent. Signs, Symbols, and Architecture, pp. 71–118.Google Scholar
Johnson, M.D., Herrmann, A. and Huber, F. (2006), “The evolution of loyalty intentions”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 70 No. 2, pp. 122–132.Google Scholar
Kai-Uwe Brock, J. and Yu Zhou, J. (2012), “Customer intimacy”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 370–383.Google Scholar
Khullar, D. (2017), Bad Hospital Design is making us Sicker. [online] New York Times, Available at: (https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/well/live/bad-hospital-design-is-making-us-sicker.html) (February 22nd 2018).Google Scholar
Kotler, P. (1973), “Atmospherics as a marketing tool”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 48–64.Google Scholar
Lawson, B. (2006), How designers think: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lee, S. (2011), “Evaluating serviceability of healthcare servicescapes: Service design perspective”, International Journal of Design, Vol. 5 No. 2.Google Scholar
Liu, C.-T., Guo, Y.M. and Lee, C.-H. (2011), “The effects of relationship quality and switching barriers on customer loyalty”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 71–79.Google Scholar
Malkin, J. (2002), Medical and dental space planning: A comprehensive guide to design, equipment, and clinical procedures: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Mehrabian, A. and Russell, J.A. (1974), An approach to environmental psychology Cambridge. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA.Google Scholar
Mlinek, E.J. and Pierce, J. (1997), “Confidentiality and privacy breaches in a university hospital emergency department”, Academic Emergency Medicine, Vol. 4 No. 12, pp. 1142–1146.Google Scholar
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985), “A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research”, the Journal of Marketing, pp. 41–50.Google Scholar
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), “Servqual: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perc”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64 No. 1, p. 12.Google Scholar
Patient@Home (2018), Health Consumerism, Denmark.Google Scholar
Price, L.L. and Arnould, E.J. (1999), “Commercial friendships: service provider-client relationships in context”, The Journal of Marketing, pp. 38–56.Google Scholar
Rapoport, A. (1982), The Meaning of the Built Environment (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA). In: Inc.Google Scholar
Ruga, W. (1989), Designing for the six senses. Paper presented at the Journal of health care interior design: proceedings from the… Annual National Symposium on Health Care Interior Design. National Symposium on Health Care Interior Design (US).Google Scholar
Russell, J.A. and Snodgrass, J. (1987), “Emotion and the environment”, Handbook of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 245–281.Google Scholar
Stern, A.L., MacRae, S., Gerteis, M., Harrison, T., Fowler, E., Edgman-Levitan, S. and Ruga, , W. (2003), “Understanding the consumer perspective to improve design quality”, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, pp. 16–28.Google Scholar
Stern, B.B. (1997), “Advertising intimacy: Relationship marketing and the services consumer”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 7–19.Google Scholar
Sternberg, E.M. (2001), The balance within: The science connecting health and emotions: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sternberg, E.M. (2009), Healing spaces: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Suess, C. and Mody, M. (2017), “Hospitality healthscapes: A conjoint analysis approach to understanding patient responses to hotel-like hospital rooms”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 61, pp. 59–72.Google Scholar
Treacy, M. and Wiersema, F. (1993), “Customer intimacy and other value disciplines”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 71 No. 1, pp. 84–93.Google Scholar
Ulrich, R.S. (1984), “View through a window may influence recovery from surgery”, Science, Vol. 224 No. 4647, pp. 420–421.Google Scholar
Ulrich, R.S., Berry, L.L., Quan, X. and Parish, J.T. (2010), “A conceptual framework for the domain of evidence-based design”, HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 95–114.Google Scholar
Ulrich, R.S., Simons, R.F., Losito, B.D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M.A. and Zelson, M. (1991), “Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 201–230.Google Scholar
Ulrich, R.S., Zimring, C., Zhu, X., DuBose, J., Seo, H.-B., Choi, Y.-S. and Joseph, , A. (2008), “A review of the research literature on evidence-based healthcare design”, HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 61–125.Google Scholar
Verderber, S. (1986), “Dimensions of person-window transactions in the hospital environment”, Environment and Behavior, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 450–466.Google Scholar
Wilson, L.M. (1972), “Intensive care delirium: the effect of outside deprivation in a windowless unit”, Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 130 No. 2, pp. 225–226.Google Scholar
Woodruff, R.B. (1997), “Customer value: the next source for competitive advantage”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 25 No. 2, p. 139.Google Scholar
Yim, C.K., Tse, D.K. and Chan, K.W. (2008), “Strengthening customer loyalty through intimacy and passion: Roles of customer–firm affection and customer–staff relationships in services”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 45 No. 6, pp. 741–756.Google Scholar